people's princess

1. A nickname for Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997).

plural people's princesses

1. InternetA celebrity (usually female) who maintains a public image as down-to-earth, genuine, or attainable.First known use since c. 2023

   Tim Walz’s daughter has been called the “people’s princess” for her on-trend but accessible Gen Z aesthetic.

   2024 August 22, Stephanie McNeal, “A Moment for Hope Walz and Her Brat-Green Nails at the DNC”, in Glamour

   2 more examples

   With their sororal vibes and playful lyrics, they [Flo] are more the people’s princesses than lofty queens, though tonight – their most high profile gig yet – is being framed as a coronation of sorts.

   2023 March 31, Sophie Walker, “Flo review – ultra-hyped new girl band still in search of personality”, in The Guardian

   The people’s princesses, Taylor Swift and Ice Spice, have released an amped up remix of “Karma,” an ode to allowing our enemies defeat themselves.

   2023 May 26, Larisha Paul, “Karma Is a Munch: Taylor Swift and Ice Spice Team Up on ‘Karma’ Remix Video”, in Rolling Stone

1. Alternative letter-case form of people's princess.

   In Season 6, she returned to the story with the added challenge of playing the People’s Princess in the last weeks of her life.

   2024 January 29, Lisa Rosen, “‘We understood what we were putting into the world.’ Elizabeth Debicki on Diana’s last days”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2024

   2 more examples

   The outpouring of grief is a mixture of shock at the sudden tragedy, anger at the waste of a young life, compassion for private family anguish and sadness for public loss. And, mixed in with that, the numbing guilt that we, with our voracious appetite for ownership of the “People’s Princess,” are somehow implicated in her end.

   1997 September 1, Suzy Menkes, “Her Death Is Less a Morality Play Than a Modernized Greek Tragedy: The Royal Superstar”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC

   There’s a story about Paula Yates bumping into Diana, Princess of Wales that Yates’s friend Belinda Brewin recollects in the documentary Paula this week. The People’s Princess turned to Little Miss Hypocrite (I’m selecting two of their tabloid epithets from a smörgåsbord) and said: “I love it when you’re on the front page of the papers because it means I’ve got the day off.”

   2023 March 15, Zoe Williams, “It’s a good time to think again about Paula Yates. She was the other Diana: hounded by the press for being herself”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Mar 2023